


A Good Place to Start Again

by BlunderGod (PompousPickle)



Series: The Fire Does Not Rule You [4]
Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Kenshi moves in, M/M, plot set up basically for the next couple fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/BlunderGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenshi and Hanzo come to an agreement. Set right before the flashback in MKX.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Place to Start Again

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “Amazing, isn’t it?”

The new Shirai-Ryu compound was not as nice as the first one. It was not as large or as secluded, hidden in the outskirts of an old city. But the resources the ruined city provided were a good starting point for the next incarnation of the clan. It was also more central to civilization, giving the Shirai Ryu more access to helping people around them.  

It was a good place. Both Hanzo and Takeda had decided on it when they first came here years ago. It was an old city, laid to waste in the first war against Shinnok. Laid to waste by the old Scorpion. It was dead and broken and looking for revival, desperate for new life. Hanzo felt something deeper than guilt when he had first looked out into the waste.

It was a good place to start again.

“I apologize for the mess,” Hanzo said as he led Kenshi into the new quarters. It was tucked away in a building vaguely resembling a temple. The clan had been cleaning it up for some time now, turning the entire block into living quarters and training areas.

“I cannot tell,” Kenshi replied with a small quirk of his lips. The blind man touched a wall of the building, letting the feeling of the atmosphere fill his senses. “It has been a long time since I was here.”

Hanzo sighed, leading Kenshi up some stairs. “Indeed it has.” They had first encountered each other in this city, and had met each other properly shortly after. Kenshi followed gladly, amazed at how far their relationship had come. They had gone so quickly to friends since their first meeting. Since then, things have developed slowly but surely. It was a leisurely courtship, but a courtship nonetheless.

When Hanzo stopped moving, they were standing on a balcony, looking over into a large open room. Kenshi took in the sounds and atmosphere. It smelled clean, crisp. There were the sounds of footsteps below, feet scuffling against a hard wood surface. A dojo, he decided.

“Takeda is taking over training today,” Hanzo then explained, prepared to explain every motion and movement to Kenshi. But Kenshi gazed down, as though he could see perfectly fine. His head was turned right towards his son. Hanzo let himself smile faintly, realizing that the ancestors inside of Sento had directed him immediately towards the young man below them.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Kenshi then said, listening to his son giving out orders and directing the younger ninjas with ease. “Already so far in his studies; a leader in the clan.” Hanzo could hear the pride radiating in his voice. Hanzo understood completely; he was proud of Takeda too, perhaps even more so than his father.

“I am going to make him chujin tomorrow.” Hanzo’s voice was low. He knew that Takeda would not be able to hear them at this height, especially over the sounds of the trainees.

Kenshi swallowed hard. He knew this day would come. In fact, he should have known it would have come sooner. Takeda had gone through so much with Master Hasashi. Hanzo had related the stories to him. He should have known that Takeda would have reached the end of his training soon.

Still, he had made a promise to Master Hasashi. No, he had made a promise to _himself:_ he would come for his son as soon as his training was complete. He would then proceed to prepare him for his true task. “So that is why you called me here,” he then said, his voice more hushed than he had intended; letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. 

“Good!  Daisuke, tighten up on the release. Let’s all do it again.” Takeda’s voice rang out above the others. He was commanding, strong. No longer a boy.

Kenshi sighed again, edging closer to Hanzo. “You have built something incredible here, Hanzo.” He paused for a moment. “It seems amiss that I should take away a part of it.”

Hanzo understood what he meant. He wanted Kenshi to speak to Takeda. He had wanted nothing more for a long time. However, he did not want to lose his best fighter, and the closest thing he had to a son since Jubei. The two were silent for some time, simply listening to the exercises going on below them. “You do not have to leave, right away.” Hanzo made the offer hesitantly, though he had been thinking of it for a while. “There is more than enough space. It will give Takeda time to adjust to the…changes in his life. And will give you some time to become better acquainted with your son.”

Kenshi ran the thought over in his mind. “Plus, you will be here.”

Hanzo cleared his throat with a start. “This is very true,” he said slowly, unsure what Kenshi meant by that. “Stating the obvious does not suit you.”

Kenshi chuckled. He had meant very little by that statement, in truth. Hanzo understood Takeda better than anyone, and understood Kenshi on a level where Kenshi felt comfortable calling him more than a friend. If anyone could mediate any troubles between the father and his abandoned son, it was Hanzo Hasashi.

Kenshi let it sink in a little further. Training Takeda in the compound meant staying in one place for several months, even longer. It meant calling somewhere home. It meant taking off from Special Forces and ceasing his wandering, if only for a while.

It was a weightier decision than he had bargained for. He listened again, to the steady breathing of Hanzo and the heavy footsteps of his son. Tomorrow the man below them would become a master in his craft. Tomorrow he would have to tell him the truth about Suchin, and pray the boy would welcome him into his heart. And from there…

Kenshi thought about Hanzo, and the clan he had built from nothing. And he had done it twice. In the ruins of this city, he had built a family. Kenshi could think of no one better to help him in rebuilding his own broken family. It was a good place to start again.

“I will stay.”


End file.
